forced to close by the Iranian government.47 As a result Christian converts resort to gather in informal meetings, commonly called “house churches”.48 State authorities regularly conduct raids, arrest organizers and sentence to prison the organizers of such meetings.49 Attendees are arrested and imprisoned on charges of “acting against national security by organizing and conducting house-churches” “propaganda against the state and insulting the sacred Iranian establishment”50 “propagation of Zionist evangelical Christianity” or “administering and managing the home churches”.51 Christian converts are reportedly arrested, prosecuted and imprisoned on national security charges, in connection with a range of peaceful activities, including simply participating in religious or cultural activities, resulting in long prison and flogging sentences.52 The end of 2018 and 2019 saw an unprecedented wave of raids on private house gatherings related to religion or belief, leading to a large number of arrests.53 Charges notably included “Christianity mission” and “disturbing public opinion”.54 Iranian penal sanctions, policies and practices instituted against religious minorities may well amount to attempts to compel believers or non-believers to adhere to their religious belief and congregations, to recant their religion or belief or to convert. The Human Rights Committee has stated that such conducts are inconsistent with Article 18 of the ICCPR.55 In light of the above, measures that impose special restrictions on the practices or manifestations of religious beliefs continue to violate the obligations of the Islamic Republic of Iran under the Covenant and have not been addressed. Recommendation Status: This recommendation has NOT been implemented. 47 Joint submission to the Human Rights Committee from The World Evangelical Alliance, Open Doors, Christian Solidarity Worldwide, Middle East Concern, Article 18, 29 May 2020 , https://articleeighteen.com/wpcontent/uploads/2020/06/F3430b-2020-JointReport_Iran_HRCttee_ListOfIssues-dragged-1.pdf 48 Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, 18 July 2019, https://documents-ddsny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N19/222/62/PDF/N1922262.pdf?OpenElement 49 Joint submission to the Human Rights Committee from All Human Rights for All in Iran, Association for Human Rights in Kurdistan – Geneva, Association for the Human Rights of the Azerbaijani People in Iran, Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, OutRight International, Siamak Pourzand Foundation, Small Media, Impact Iran, 2020, <https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CCPR/Shared%20Documents/IRN/INT_CCPR_NGO_IRN_42317_E.pdf> 50 Joint submission to the Human Rights Committee from The World Evangelical Alliance, Open Doors, Christian Solidarity Worldwide, Middle East Concern, Article 18, 29 May 2020 , https://articleeighteen.com/wpcontent/uploads/2020/06/F3430b-2020-JointReport_Iran_HRCttee_ListOfIssues-dragged-1.pdf 51 Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, 18 July 2019, https://documents-ddsny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N19/222/62/PDF/N1922262.pdf?OpenElement 52 Joint submission to the Human Rights Committee from All Human Rights for All in Iran, Association for Human Rights in Kurdistan – Geneva, Association for the Human Rights of the Azerbaijani People in Iran, Iran Human Rights Documenttion Center, OutRight International, Siamak Pourzand Foundation, Small Media, Impact Iran, 2020, <https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CCPR/Shared%20Documents/IRN/INT_CCPR_NGO_IRN_42317_E.pdf> 53 Joint submission to the Human Rights Committee from The World Evangelical Alliance, Open Doors, Christian Solidarity Worldwide, Middle East Concern, Article 18, 29 May 2020 , https://articleeighteen.com/wpcontent/uploads/2020/06/F3430b-2020-JointReport_Iran_HRCttee_ListOfIssues-dragged-1.pdf 54 Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) https://www.en-hrana.org/a-christian-citizen-was-arrested-and-anotherwas-went-into-exile 55 CCPR General Comment No. 22: Article 18 < https://www.refworld.org/docid/453883fb22.html> 7